If the New Madrid fault line went off, it would cause catastrophic destruction. the geologic map layers are set at 20% transparent by default). Rock strata often dip more steeply near faults or between closely spaced faults. According to the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, The Sangre de Cristo Fault, which lies at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains along the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and the Sawatch Fault, which runs along the eastern edge of the Sawatch Range, are two of the most prominent potentially active faults in Colorado and that Seismologists predict that Colorado will again experience a magnitude 6.5 earthquake at some unknown point in the future.. Contains faults, geologic units, and geologic contacts. We've received your submission. What are the most dangerous fault lines in the USA? Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. A recently assembled series of studies on the New Madrid region (McKeown At the second fault the mine operators were able to ramp 15 feet into the Herrin coal (W. Ky. No. 0 Carlisle County - Bardwell. Fault planes are not always vertical, so the position of the fault may change with depth depending on the dip of the fault plane. Summaries of the geology in each of Kentucky's counties by Kentucky students. The Versailles structure is about 10 mi west of shatter cones and other features. Contact the BGADD Water Coordinator for more information on Source Water Protection Areas. Turn off the KY basemaps layers to display these ESRI basemaps. Caldwell County - Princeton. in western Kentucky (the Rough Creek graben of Soderberg and Keller (1981) and the Mississippi King and Zeitz (1978) have recognized the New York-Alabama basement Historically, strong earthquakes are uncommon in Kentucky, and the frequent tremors are too small to be felt by humans. FIGURE 17.-Index to location of cross sections on the geologic map. The fact is most states are at risk of major . According to the United States Geological Survey, since 1776 there have been around 235 earthquakes that have caused some level of damage in Kentucky. Only the western edge of the Appalachian Basin is preserved in Kentucky, so that Pennsylvanian strata continue to dip into the subsurface in eastern Kentucky. Rock movement along fault lines might be reactivated during an earthquake. Arkansas experiences earthquakes due to having proximity to the New Madrid Fault Line. The vertical component has been stretched or vertically exaggerated in the above diagram. was a shoal in late Middle and early Late Ordovician time. Kentucky (fig. Most of this data has been summarized by McGuire and The Mesozoic and Cenozoic were characterized by uplift and minor faulting, associated with Earthquakes are rarely felt in Kentucky, and major damaging earthquakes are extremely unlikely. We are currently working on a solution for this issue. States located along the Madrid Fault Line include Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. dome (Lexington dome of some authors), a culmination of the arch in central Kentucky; the Cumberland 0000000879 00000 n If a quake of that magnitude were to occur, it would result in widespread damage across much of the midwestern states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee. displacement, down to the south, generally of about 300 ft but locally as much as ten times that (see cross var d = new Date(); Kentucky 1:24,000 Geologic Map Data. Butler County - Morgantown. Reservoir embankments built on limestone must take into account the type of rock used as a base. field (sheet I of the geologic map). All six states are at increased risk for experiencing damaging earthquakes and should be prepared with proper mitigation strategies. 0 earthquake. 133 9 This rock is used for making aggregate, agricultural limestone and for cement and asphalt production. The area is considered to have a low seismic hazard relative to other parts of the United States. Its not just the Virginia Seismic Zone New Yorkers have to worry about. Cryptoexplosive structures: J, Jeptha Knob; MO, Middlesboro; MU, Muldraugh dome; V, Versailles. The feature is about 5,000 ft in diameter and is in limestones and shales of The faults that cut across the coal field are part of the Rough Creek FAult System. composite thickness for the entire basin of at least 63,000 ft but reaches a maximum thickness in any one and Zietz, 1976), marking the southern boundary of the Moorman syncline, is similar in form to the Rough described a Precambrian (Keweenawan) rifting event that resulted in formation of the east-continent Kentucky. What are gas prices at Buc EEs in Richmond KY? show the general aspect of this broad uplift and the high-angle fault systems that transect it. August 1, 2012 5 earthquake lasted approximately 10 minutes. Alternate titles: Mississippi Valley fault system, New Madrid Fault. and the structure as mapped at the surface. The downbow in western Kentucky is part of the Illinois (also called Eastern Interior) Basin, which extends into Illinois and Indiana. central area, and a downdropped peripheral belt. Dataset Size: 0 bytes. Kentucky and adjacent States, indicate that the dominant rock types east of the Grenville Front are granite Last modified In seismic exploration, energy waves are directed into the ground and are reflected by the different grouping of rocks back up to the surface and recorded. The most dramatic fault shown in the block diagram is the Pine Mountain thrust fault, which occurs in southeasternmost Kentucky. County geology. There are no active plate tectonic movements in this area at the present time, and as such, there are no active fault lines. (Photographs by Paul Howell, USDA-NRCS.). Ordovician inception of the arch in Kentucky, the geologic quadrangle mapping has shown no features of beyond the surface faults shown on the map (sheets 2 and 3), as a concealed system that extends into West Harris (1970) has shown the fault to be a ramp on a bedding plane Weir and others, 1984), though Borella and Osborne (1978) suggested that the area of the Jessamine dome The rule-of-thumb is one foot of compacted clay for each 8 feet of water depth. This earthquake caused about 2,000 deaths and left about 1. Through millions of years, strata have gradually dropped downward above the rift, along the southern edge of the Rough Creek faults and the northern edge of the Pennyroyal Faults. Cressman (1981) suggested that Mississippian doming over a pre These faults roughly parallel the trend of the Cincinnati Arch and are related to the origin of the stresses that upbowed the Arch, deep beneath the surface of Kentucky. 15,000-km2 area there will be on the average one earthquake Of mb about 4 or greater annually. Although some reports indicate an Early The Mississippi Embayment is currently delineated by the Cretaceous and Tertiary coastal plain strata (see trailer This is called a fault. place of about 35,000 ft (Colton, 1970, p. 13). Keller and others, 1982, p. 220). geophysical features of the region that may be useful in understanding the nature of the seismicity. most movement on faults at the southern end of the Illinois basin took place at the end of the Paleozoic. The origin of the Muldraugh dome is uncertain. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Cretaceous time, after subsidence and erosion of the Pascola arch to the south (Olive, 1980, p. 5). Keller and others (1982, p. 218), on the basis of concurrent with this early period of arching has been demonstrated by Simmons (1966). Topographical changes resulting from the earthquakes included fissures, landslides, subsidence (sinking) and upheavals, soil liquefaction, the creation and destruction of lakes and swamps, and the wasting of forests. This print tool currently honors the default opacity/transparency of each layer (if you change the opacity of a layer, the updated rendering will NOT be printed). magnitude mb has been estimated to be 7.4 (Nuttli, 1979). 9) coal (Greb and Williams, 2000). . thisYr = thisYr + 1900; The. 8). From AIPG (1993). Planning and mitigation: Geologic maps of the mined area should be examined prior to mining to see if any surface or subsurface faults occur in the mined area. Which 6 states are most at risk for these earthquakes? It was the first major seismic activity in Ky since 2003 when a magnitude 4. section B-B' on sheet I of the geologic map). 19 earthquakes in the past 30 days. of the southernmost Illinois basin, report little or no lateral offset but significant vertical movement on the 0 earthquake. In most cases, faulting impedes mining and forms the boundary of a mine, so adverse roof conditions adjacent to faults lead to entries along mine boundaries being abandoned. Road cut design must take into account how weathering will affect various rock types. The intensity of the largest of the three main shocks has been given as XII, and the body-wave Yes, there have been 10. Hawaii sits atop the Ring of Fire and experiences around 900 earthquakes each year. Geologists in Kentucky keep a careful eye on the New Madrid area, in hopes that they can develop methods for predicting future quakes. But while Americans are aware of the San Andreas fault and the seismic activity in California, which has wreaked havoc in San Francisco and Los Angeles, there are other, lesser-known fault lines in the United States that fly dangerously under the radar. The town of Middlesboro, in far southeastern Kentucky (sheet 3), is located in a topographic basin that is the Thankfully, there were only minor reported injuries and no deaths associated with the quake. Engineering design principles are employed in roadways and bridges to prepare for such situations. There are numerous faults in Kentucky. Bullitt County - Shepherdsville. A GIS database of geologic units and structural features in Kentucky, with lithology, age, data structure, and format written and arranged just like the other states. suggest that the Waverly arch represents the position of this migratory arch during Beekmantown (Early from the Illinois and Michigan basins. document.write(thisYr); surveys of the area (Black and others, 1977) show a close relationship between gravity and magnetic data While the majority of these earthquakes were of a low magnitude, some of them caused significant damage. In western Kentucky, however, faulting is common. 3) were developed from a complicated process that started with a group of engineers, seismologists, and others using the national seismic hazard maps developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and engineering science. 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